Bibi Dong looked at Su Chen, her eyes revealing emotions so inscrutable that even he could not tell what she was thinking.
If Bibi Dong had proposed such a condition when she became Qian Xunji's disciple, could the tragedy that had befallen her have been prevented?
Humans were living beings capable of thought. Everyone had their own ideas and different views on things. Bibi Dong deeply agreed with those words. As for Su Chen, she no longer merely found him increasingly pleasing to the eye. A sense of having found a kindred spirit arose in her heart.
The onlookers felt somewhat worried for Su Chen. Becoming the disciple of His Holiness the Pope of Spirit Hall was such a glorious honor. Recklessly courting disaster by making demands like this might well prove unacceptable to the Pope.
"You've made three conditions, so I must make one of my own. Once you join Spirit Hall, its interests must come first in everything you do! You must never violate this fundamental principle!" In truth, Bibi Dong did not absolutely need to impose this condition. She simply felt that, although she was the one taking on a disciple, the whole process somehow made her seem like the one desperately chasing after him.
"All right. As long as you agree to my three conditions, I'll agree to yours." Su Chen nodded without any hesitation. Apart from the third condition, his first two had both been proposed with Spirit Hall's future in mind.
"Very well. I agree to all three of your conditions!" Bibi Dong said with a smile. Had it been anyone else, such as Hu Liena, she might not have agreed to even one. What a joke-she was the Pope of Spirit Hall. Countless people begged everyone under the sun for a chance to become her disciple, only to fail. Yet someone actually dared to set three conditions!
But Bibi Dong knew very well that Su Chen was no ordinary person. A god had already chosen him and bestowed divine trials upon him! His future accomplishments would be beyond mortal imagination.
Bibi Dong had already received the Rakshasa God's nine trials. If she passed them all, she would be able to ascend to the Divine Realm. In other words, sooner or later, she would ascend to the Divine Realm. She needed to make some preparations for that unfamiliar place in advance. At the thought of soon having a deity as her direct disciple, Bibi Dong could not help feeling rather smug. She simply did not know whether the deity favoring Su Chen was a Third-Level God or a Second-Level God!
Thud.
Su Chen dropped to his knees before Bibi Dong.
"You... what are you doing?" Bibi Dong asked in surprise.
"Paying my respects to my teacher!" Su Chen replied.
"There's no need to do this to become my disciple!" Bibi Dong said, smiling with her lips pressed together.
"No. A teacher for a day is a mother for life. You deserve this bow from me! Honored Teacher, please accept your student's bow!" Su Chen bowed to Bibi Dong with the utmost respect.
With this bow, Su Chen honored Bibi Dong's wisdom and understanding, which made her worthy of his respect. With this bow, he honored their bond as teacher and disciple, which made her worthy of his respect. This bow also told Bibi Dong that, even though he had proposed those three conditions, he held nothing but respect for her in his heart.
Beside them, Hu Liena stared at Su Chen in astonishment. A gleam flashed through her eyes, and she immediately understood. Following his example, she dropped to her knees with a thud and said to Bibi Dong with the utmost respect, "Honored Teacher, please accept your student's bow!"
"Both of you, get up!" Bibi Dong extended her delicate hands and helped Su Chen and Hu Liena to their feet with a smile.
The moment Su Chen straightened up, the energy in the surrounding space began to fluctuate violently. The resulting energy was so powerful that it lifted his body off the ground.
The Dragon God Second Trial was complete!
Su Chen was overjoyed. The Dragon God Second Trial had required him to take first place in the joint tournament of the Soul Master Academies in Spirit City's eastern, southern, western, and northern districts, and to become Bibi Dong's student.
Seeing this, Su Chen hurriedly sat cross-legged.
Beside him, Bibi Dong was stunned. She thought in shock, These are the signs of a God-Given Soul Ring!
As someone undertaking the Rakshasa God's nine trials, Bibi Dong knew something about Divine Trials.
Anyone undertaking trials above the black level would have one opportunity to receive a God-Given Soul Ring upon reaching their first bottleneck. Without having to hunt a Soul Beast, they could receive a God-Given Soul Ring that granted the Soul Skill best suited to their Martial Soul and a Soul Ring of the highest level they could endure. They had to withstand the Soul Ring's baptism with the utmost perseverance to gain the greatest benefit. However, each person had only one chance.
Six years earlier, Su Chen had received an opportunity to obtain a God-Given Soul Ring. That had also alerted Bibi Dong at the time. She could not understand how Su Chen could receive two opportunities to obtain God-Given Soul Rings.
Bibi Dong was intensely curious about this. Just which deity's trials had Su Chen received?
The energy of heaven and earth gathered before Su Chen, forming a golden bead. As he entered a meditative state, the dragon marking between his brows appeared on its own. As though drawn toward it, the golden bead began approaching the coiled-dragon marking between his brows.
As if a mechanism had been triggered, the instant the golden bead landed on the coiled-dragon marking, Soul Power surged wildly from Su Chen's body.
A dragon? Bibi Dong's heart jolted.
To learn which deity's trials someone had received, one only needed to look at the divine marking between their brows. Su Chen's marking was shaped like a dragon, so it must belong to a deity associated with dragons!
Su Chen's expression remained calm. His right arm, right leg, left arm, left leg, torso, and head all began to emit faint glows. Time ticked by, and in the blink of an eye, an hour had passed. A dense layer of fine sweat beads already covered Su Chen's forehead. To the astonishment of the surrounding spectators, even his sweat was golden.
The energy of heaven and earth surrounding Su Chen began to change form. Golden threads gathered together, becoming rings of golden light. The halos first expanded outward around Su Chen's body, then began to contract, slamming heavily into him. Every impact made his body tremble, and more sweat gathered on his forehead. His hands were clenched tight, and his features were twisted, revealing just how much pain he was enduring. One thing was certain: as the number of impacts increased, the number of halos gradually increased as well.
How much Su Chen could gain from the God-Given Halo depended on how firmly his heart sought strength and how tenacious his perseverance was.
Hold on. This time, I have to last longer than before!
Su Chen kept reminding himself in his mind. After every impact from a halo, he repeated that reminder. Whenever he successfully endured another impact, he told himself, Just hold on one more time. After one more, I'll give up.
Yet time after time, Su Chen gritted his teeth, held his breath, and resolutely kept going.
People could not know the full extent of their own determination and perseverance. As time passed, Su Chen was drenched in sweat. His soaked clothes clung to his body, holding enough moisture to wring water from them. Thin traces of red blood began seeping through his skin.
By now, the golden halos surrounding Su Chen had increased from one to nine. Then the nine condensed into one. The energy radiating from that single halo was denser than that of the previous nine, ten times that of each individual halo before. One became nine again, and after that, nine became one, then one became nine once more.
Before you continue